The invention relates in general to the field of electromechanical switching devices, in particular to micro- and nano-electromechanical switching devices.
In electronic circuits, electrical signals need to be switched between “off” and “on” states to perform logic operations or to store information. Ideal switching properties (i.e., very abrupt switching transition and a high on/off ratio, e.g., >1010) of electromechanical relays are not achieved with current miniaturized CMOS-based transistors (whose typical on/off ratios for the electrical resistance are on the order of 102-106 and changes require some 100 mV in bias). More recent concepts of switching devices allow to achieve more abrupt switching, but they usually suffer from low “on” currents (e.g., <10 μA for tunneling transistors) or too large device dimensions (e.g., MEMS switch), which prevent many logic or memory applications.